by Trish Loye
“Six months after we’d broken up. A woman with long, dark hair answered the door.” She swallowed hard. The pain of that day ripped through her again, almost as fresh as when she’d seen the woman. It was the day she’d realized she hadn’t meant as much to Ryan as she’d thought, because if she had then why had he moved on so quickly? “She was wearing a bikini and seemed very at home.”
He frowned and then his expression cleared. “Ah, shit. That was Sonja, one of my cousins.” He cursed. “I always had her housesit for me when I was away on ops. You let Sonja scare you away?”
Something inside her loosened. She’d spent all this time thinking that he’d started living with someone new so soon after they’d broken up. “She didn’t scare me. I just...didn’t want to get in the way of your happiness. Especially since I was still working for the CIA. Something you’d already made your feelings known about.”
He held up a hand. “It wasn’t your job at the CIA that bothered me. I was just so damn jealous of all the time you devoted to it.” He sighed. “But it also made me proud. It was one of the reasons I was so attracted to you.”
“Maybe it just wasn’t our time to be together. Your job also took so much of your time.” She paused. “Did you ever date anyone else seriously?”
“Not seriously. What part of I-waited-years-for-you didn’t you understand?”
Some part of her was happy about his answer, but another bigger part mourned their loss of time. “Do you think we can make this work a second time?” She was going to do her best to make it work. She didn’t want to lose this man again.
He appraised her and she didn’t look away, willing him to see her and what she would do for him. “I’m not a SEAL any—”
“You’ll always be a SEAL.”
He gave a slight nod. “I’m no longer an operational SEAL,” he amended. “I’m a business consultant. So that means only one of us has a tough job.”
She hesitated for only a moment. “Actually...I don’t have a job anymore.”
“You left the CIA?”
She wasn’t sure whether she should be irritated by his incredulous tone. “They didn’t give me a choice. They benched me to a paper-pushing position.”
“Shit. I’m sorry.”
She shrugged as if it didn’t mean anything that her long and distinguished career had ended so ignominiously. “So that means neither of us have tough jobs anymore.” She forced a laugh that definitely didn’t sound real. “I don’t actually have any job at the moment.”
“You’re looking to retire?”
“I’m looking to start over. I think retirement might be boring.”
“It is.” He opened a cupboard and grabbed two mugs. “Hence, my consulting gig.”
“I thought you hated consulting.”
He turned to the coffeepot and poured two cups, doctoring hers with cream before handing it to her. “I do. But it pays the bills. Though, to be honest, Silas asked me to be available for other high-priority missions.”
Her brows raised. “He thought you did a good job tracking me down?” she teased.
Ryan laughed. “Apparently so. Unfortunately, working the occasional mission doesn’t pay well, so I’d have to keep up the consulting.” His grimace said it all.
She couldn’t stop her smile of excitement. “What if I had a proposition for you?”
His eyes darkened and his gaze went to her lips.
Her breath quickened. Damn, he could sidetrack her so easily. “Not that kind of proposition,” she said.
“Too bad.” He shrugged and sipped his coffee. “I’m listening.”
“I’ve done a lot of thinking in the past three days,” she said. And really, she’d been playing with this idea for years in the back of her head. It just seemed to make sense right now. “I think we should go into business together.”
“What kind of business?”
“I want to open a private investigation firm. I’d handle the cases and manage the team. You’d be the silent partner and my backup.”
His head cocked. “Silent?”
“Well...to be honest, I wasn’t sure how you’d like this idea. So you could do as little or as much as you’d like. And it would fit with you taking missions with Silas.”
He was quiet for a long time. “Where would the home base be?”
She bit her lip and glanced around. “I’m easy, but I like California.”
He set his coffee down and his eyes practically glowed. “And what would we name this agency?”
“Raven Investigations.”
Something in the tilt of his head made the feminine part of her stop and take notice. He took a step toward her. “So we’re going to be partners?”
A thrill went through her at his low, rough voice, and she backed away a step. “If you’d like.”
He stepped out from around the counter. “I want to finish off our first contract before I sign anything else.”
Confusion slowed her pulse slightly. “You want me to take pictures of your beach?”
He chuckled and it sent her pulse running again. “At some point yes, but this is about you. You breached our contract three times.” His smile was part hunter and part seducer and made her feel as if the air had thinned. “So you owe me three consequences.”
“Three?”
He nodded and stepped toward her. She couldn’t help but tense.
“The first time when you met your sister for coffee.”
“I told you—”
He took another step toward her and her breath caught. He was stalking her. The intent look in his eyes made her shiver.
He gave his wooden dining table a long look. “For that infraction, I want to lay you out and feast upon you.”
The vision sent a thrill right through her. She licked her lips, but couldn’t swallow because her throat was so dry.
His gaze tracked her tongue and warmth ignited in her core. He moved closer and she stepped back automatically, the glass patio doors behind her. “Then you left my hotel room for a second time,” he said, his voice low.
Now her gasp was outrage. “I had a Russian assassin after me.”
The lethal grace of him mesmerized her as he moved closer. Close enough to touch. “Not my fault you opened the door.” Without warning, he spun her around so she faced the beach through the patio door. “For that,” he whispered in her ear, his breath caressing the sensitive skin there. “For that, I’ll take you against the glass.” His hands skimmed down her front, sliding down the sides of her breasts, over her stomach and down her hips. “Where we’ll watch the waves surge and crash, while I make you scream my name.” His words as much as his hands made her throb, but it wasn’t enough; he wasn’t touching her where she wanted him most.
And then he was gone. A few paces back, looking too calm, too collected, too cool while she panted and heaved and wanted to moan the loss of his strong hands. Something in his eyes changed from the lustful predator to the calculating commander.
She wasn’t sure what had changed, but it wasn’t something she’d shy away from now, not after traveling all this way. “And the third time?”
He stalked toward her and she couldn’t help but back away, her heart thundering with both the primal fear of being caught, and the desire to be caught. Her back hit a wall and she could only watch as he shifted in close.
“The third time was in the Russian Embassy.” A muscle in his jaw leapt. “You didn’t follow the plan.”
She opened her mouth to defend her actions, but his head tilted even as his gaze laser-focused on hers. The intensity in them simmered with heat and...anger. She didn’t speak.
“You could have been killed,” he growled. He took a couple of deep breaths. “I know what we do is dangerous work, but...if we’re going to work together, if this is going to work between us...” He braced a hand on either side of her head, enclosing her. “You must stick to the plan.”
Sadness overtook her, drowning the desire, but she had to speak her truth
. If he couldn’t accept who she was, then they were doomed before they could start. “I can’t promise that,” she said softly, reasonably. “And neither can you.” Please see that.
He pressed in close so their chests just touched and their breaths mingled. Her pulse ratcheted up again. “Then you’ll have to face the consequences of disobedience,” he said.
The sadness slowly dissipated as she realized what he meant. He wasn’t going to try to force her to be someone she wasn’t.
“For the third breach of contract,” he said, keeping eye contact with her. “Tell me how you truly feel about me.”
She almost started, having expected more of his seductive requests. This one, though—it stopped her: To tell him how she really felt? How she’d always felt?
Like jumping out of a plane for the first time, two emotions gripped her. Both a fear of the unknown, and a thrilling desire to see what would happen if she did something so bold.
She leapt.
Her voice was breathless when she spoke. “I love you.” It felt so good to finally say those words. “I’ve always loved you.”
His smile lit his eyes and his whole face. “I have waited so fucking long to hear that, Sunshine.”
“And?” she demanded.
He laughed and swung her up into his arms. She squeaked and grabbed onto his neck, while he strode toward his bedroom. Not much had changed in the years she’d been gone. It still had glass doors with views of the ocean, the ocean that she went to bed every night looking at.
He stood her on her feet and kissed her softly. “I love you too, Sunshine.”
The words sung through her. “Again,” she said.
“I love you.” And then he kissed her. This was no gentle, seductive kiss. This was a fiery windstorm of heat and lust and longing. She couldn’t see, couldn’t smell, couldn’t feel anything but Ryan and what he was doing to her. He dominated her mouth, his hands in her hair, holding her head and she loved it. Her tongue sought out his, even as she leaned her body against him, seeking his touch.
Her hands pulled his shirt out of his jeans and slid underneath and up the wide expanse of his sculpted chest. Ryan’s hands roamed over the bare skin of her back under her shirt, leaving trails of tingling heat. She wanted more. She wanted skin to skin and pulled his shirt off his shoulders, barely breaking the kiss she willingly drowned in.
Somehow her shirt disappeared as well and with expert fingers, Ryan flicked open her bra. Once it was gone, she moaned almost as loud as he did when her nipples contacted his bare skin and contracted into tight buds. She swayed against him, the sensation overwhelming, and her head dropped back while she gasped in air.
Ryan took advantage and kissed his way down her neck. “Jesus, you are so fucking beautiful.” He palmed her breasts and rubbed his thumbs over her nipples until she moaned again.
He lowered his mouth to her breasts, nipping and licking before sucking first one and then the other nipple into his mouth. She grabbed onto his shoulders for support, loving the inherent strength in them. Loving him.
She loved him so much. And that’s why no man had ever been able to compare to him.
He undid her jeans and pulled them off with a single-minded focus that sent heat rippling through her. He picked her up again as though she weighed nothing. The pure power of him made her want him even more. This man who valued honor, integrity, and courage was hers. And it made her want to shout with joy.
She laughed when he tossed her on the bed. The strength in him shocked and thrilled her.
“Don’t move,” he growled.
Her smile stopped when he stripped off the rest of his clothes. It had been so long since she’d been with a man and forever since she’d been with Ryan. Her thoughts stuttered for a second and she swallowed as he revealed himself. Magnificent. He was a freaking work of art, especially at the age where most men tended to soften. Ryan looked anything but soft.
Unlike her. She’d tried to keep her muscles toned and her body lean but she was over forty and there wasn’t much she could do about the bits of softness that had crept in over the years. Again, the need to cover herself must have showed in her face.
He glared at her. “You are fucking gorgeous. Never doubt that.”
“So says the male model.”
He grinned lazily and came closer. “Maybe that should be my next career.” The cockiness in his gaze made her laugh.
“I think you should stick with saving damsels in distress.”
His gaze turned dark and the predator was back. “Is that what you are?” He knelt on the bed, coming closer to her.
Her breathing quickened again and her heart pounded, but she didn’t cover herself or back away. Instead, she leaned back on her elbows and smiled her invitation. “I’ve never been a damsel in distress.”
His gaze roamed over her and her skin heated. “It’s one of the things I love about you.” His voice was a rough, deep caress against her senses. “Even as it drives me crazy.” He pulled her black lace underwear off and looked his fill.
Her face flushed.
“Gorgeous.” He knelt between her legs. His breath against that sensitive spot sent ripples of need through her. He lowered his mouth and she cried out as he licked and suckled her. Pleasure tore at her while she panted and writhed beneath Ryan.
“I can’t wait any longer,” he said, lifting from her. He crawled up and then lowered his delicious weight onto her and between her legs.
She arched into him. “Please, Ryan.”
She gripped his shoulders when he surged into her. And as he began to move, they both cried out from the pleasure. She liquified into pure heat, straining to reach that peak as Ryan thrust harder and faster and she met every stroke.
Her muscles locked and she arched her neck. Ryan plunged deep and the world ripped away from her. She called his name as pure pleasure filled her from her core outward. Ryan gripped her tight and whispered love fragments while he pulsed inside her.
Together, they drifted back to reality. She wrapped her arms around his back when he made to shift his weight off her. She liked feeling his weight. She loved it, actually.
“I love you,” she said.
He put his weight on his elbows and looked down on her, before kissing her gently. “I love you too.”
Two weeks ago, she never would have believed she could be here and be this happy. It would have been crazier in her mind to believe that she could end up with Ryan than accused of being a traitor. She snorted.
“What’s so funny?”
“Life,” she said. “It has a way of showing you a great opportunity in the midst of kicking your ass.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I take it that I’m the great opportunity.”
“The best I could hope for,” she said sincerely.
Her stomach chose right then to growl and he laughed. “Come on, Sunshine. Let’s go make something to eat and watch the waves. You can tell me all about this new investigative firm you want to launch.” His gaze darkened and his voice lowered. “And I’ll think about all the consequences I might want to add to our new contract.”
Heat curled inside her, even as happiness bloomed at the thought of their new life together. “I can’t wait to hire you again.”
* * *
THE END
Also by Trish Loye
Edge of Control - Book 1
Edge of Reason - Book 2
Edge of Danger - Book 3
Edge of the Season - Book 4 - A Holiday Novella
Edge of Courage - Book 5
Edge of Honor - Book 6
Edge of Fury - Book 7
Edge Security: The Beginning - Book 8 - A Novella
Edge of Defiance - Book 9
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Edge Security Box Sets
Books 1-3
Books 4-6
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Note: All Edge Security books are stand-alones. They don’t need to be read in order.
A Word from the Author
Thank you so much for reading SEAL for Hire. It means so much to me to be able to share my stories. If you enjoyed mine then I would appreciate it if you would help others enjoy my books too. You can do this by telling a friend, or writing a review on either Amazon or Goodreads.
And this is by no means the end of my stories! I have another series you might like. EDGE Security is a cover for a covert international organization that handles jobs most governments won’t. The operators are the elite of the elite, soldiers and spies, chosen for their skills and secrecy, and their ability to go beyond the edge.
Available on all retailers.
I think Dante might deserve a story if he’s nice, or even better…if he’s not. ;)
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Contact Me
I love getting email from readers. Please feel free to contact me. [email protected]
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Newsletter
If you want more of the E.D.G.E. Security series then sign up for my newsletter (click here) to stay up to date on new releases. Or you can go to my web site. www.trishloye.com
Also in the Silver SEAL Books
Did you enjoy this story? Read through the other stories in the Silver SEALs Series by eleven other fantastic military romance authors:
0. SEAL Strong – Cat Johnson 1/15/19
1. SEAL Love’s Legacy – Sharon Hamilton 2/5/19
2. SEAL Together – Maryann Jordan 2/26/19
3. SEAL of Fortune – Becky McGraw * TBD *
4. SEAL in Charge – Donna Michaels 4/9/19
5. SEAL in a Storm – KaLyn Cooper 4/30/19
6. SEAL Forever – Kris Michaels 5/21/19
7. SEAL Out of Water – Abbie Zanders 6/11/19
8. Sign, SEAL and Deliver – Geri Foster 6/25/19
9. SEAL Hard – J.m. Madden 7/16/19
10. SEAL Undercover – Desiree Holt 8/6/19
11. SEAL for Hire – Trish Loye 8/27/19
